Thursday, March 14, 2013

That 70s Show

That 70's Show airs today, but it might not be available from your cable provider.

For example, you might want to avoid going near the Great Salt Lake. The lake is quite cold right now as illustrated by temperatures from 4 PM yesterday afternoon. While it was 67ºF at the Salt Lake City airport, it was only 54ºF at the Saltair marina, 53ºF at Hat Island, and 51ºF at Gunnison Island.

Source: MesoWest

That's an impressively cold airmass sitting over the lake and it will be there today too.

Another cool spot was the Cache Valley where the high at the Logan Airport only reached 50ºF. The issue there is snow cover, as can be seen in yesterday afternoon's MODIS image.

Source: NASA

They even had some fog yesterday morning and this morning, which can just be made out along the valley floor in this Utah State webcam image.

Source: Utah State University

All of this provides a good example of how the state of the land and lake surfaces can affect the local microclimate. Today I'll stick to the east bench, where That 70s Show will provide an episode worthy of an Emmy.

About Us

The Wasatch Weather Weenies discuss the weather and climate of the Wasatch Front and Mountains, western United States, and beyond.

Participants include aspiring and old-school atmospheric scientists, weather enthusiasts, powder snobs, and poor souls enrolled in classes taught by University of Utah Atmospheric Sciences Professor Jim Steenburgh. Many posts feature content or insights enabled by the support of the National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, and the NOAA/National Weather Service.

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